The Rangers may have played their most complete game of the year, dominating play from the opening face-off to the final buzzer in their 5-1 win over the Avalanche on Tuesday. New York took advantage of a squad playing their third game in four names and second in as many days on their East Coast swing with games against Philly and the Islanders still to go. That said, coming into the contest, Colorado was 15-5-1 against Eastern Conference teams, 7-2 on the road and 4-2 in back-to-backs, so I put more stock in how the Rangers played as opposed to weariness on the part of the Avalanche.
Game Highlights:
A few thoughts on the game:
Speed kills, Speed when mixed with a robust forecheck and good work in your own zone really kills. That was the case Tuesday. Granted, several of the goals came about due to "lucky" bounces, but also you believe you make your own breaks.
On the first goal, it was solid coverage in the defensive zone, leading to the 2-on-1 break. Great play and then speed by Carl Hagelin to create the odd-man rush, which was finished by Ryan Callahan. On the second goal, work in the corner, then great stick work by Callahan to create the turnover and stick-to-itiveness by Brad Richards to get the puck to Callahan. The third goal, while a result of a deflection off Matt Duchene on Anton Stralman's shot, it was created by Mats Zuccarello's forecheck in the neutral zone and creation of space along the boards in the offensive zone. The fourth goal was more good work by Zucc, who peaked to see where Derick Brassard was before dishing the puck to him and somewhat of a lucky goal. The fifth goal was a result of that same hard pressure, but Colorado had sort of thrown in the towel late, so I discount that one a bit.
The other keys to me were the responses by the Rangers, especially after the goal by Gabriel Landeskog, where they upped the lead to 3-1, the play of the second through fourth lines and the 5-on-3 penalty kill. I will touch on the kill more in a bit, but wanted to discuss the play of the lines other than the Kreider-Stepan-Nash trio. I thought the top line generated some opportunities, but when you get five goals and nothing from the #1 grouping, it's the mark of a balanced team.
The 5-on-3 penalty kill, to me this was the key to the game. At the time, it was 3-1 and with Chris Kreider in the box, Dan Girardi, one of the staples of the penalty kill, took a penalty 10 seconds in, creating 1:50 of a two-man advantage. The work of Dominic Moore especially and to a lesser extent Brian Boyle up front was tremendous, but that was only part of the story. The really impressive part was Ryan McDonagh and Marc Staal staying on for all the penalty kill. I was talking to Glen Miller on the way home from work and he told me that Ulf Samuelsson said in between periods that they because Colorado kept their top line on, the Rangers kept on Mack Truck and Staal, the new proud father, because he felt the Rangers pairing were better conditioned than the Avalanche. Bold statement, but those who worried about the team's conditioning with the changeover from Torts to AV that's a pretty good indication it's no longer a real concern, especially seeing how well the Rangers played in the third period in January.
Jim Cerny tweeted some of this information - The Rangers' win was the first time this year they won four in a row. Further evidence of the balanced scoring and rolling of all four lines and three defensive pairs is that the 17 goals scored in those four games came from 14 different goal scorers. That prevents opponents from rolling coverage to just one trio, so if the Nash line doesn't score, the others can and have picked up the slack.
Callahan:
What's a blog without a Callahan update. Callahan probably had his best game of the season yesterday. He was active offensively and defensively, converted a pair of chances and was rewarded with two goals while getting showered with love from the Garden faithful. There is 48 hours or so to the pre-Olympic trade freeze and self-imposed deadline created by GM Glen Sather.
Pat Leonard put it very well today, summarizing some of the issues with giving the Callahan the rumored seven years and around $47 million he wants.
If Sather re-signs Callahan to a six- or seven-year deal, he’s committing an enormous term to a player whose role on the ice has decreased under coach Alain Vigneault, being removed from the power play and falling to the second penalty-killing unit, and therefore becoming — to put it one way — more replaceable, in terms of production. Sather still would have Dan Girardi, Anton Stralman and several other free agents to address afterward.
Larry Brooks suggested that the Rangers view Callahan as a form of a "rental" stating:
Maybe the Blueshirts’ general manager can look at Callahan as his team’s rental for the remainder of this season, with the added benefit of not having to yield a single, solitary asset to get him. While other clubs part with young roster players, prospects and draft picks to patch holes and bulk up for the stretch and playoff runs, maybe Sather can see Callahan through that alternate prism as a short-term fix he’s getting for free (for the last time), even if No. 24 is part of the Core Four including Henrik Lundqvist, Dan Girardi and Marc Staal to have bridged John Tortorella’s tenure behind the bench.
I think we all want a resolution sooner rather later. But if the view is that Callahan won't be back because of his contract demands, to possibly blow up a season where the team has hit their stride and you never know what can happen in the post-season in order to avoid losing an asset seems kind of short-sighted. I understand you don't want to just let him walk away, but even if he is not signed by Feb. 7 or March 5 doesn’t mean he definitely is gone and lost forever. Viewing a player that is your captain and has played his whole career with the team as a rental on the face of it sounds odd, but it may be the best approach. Sather can save face by saying that no team met the demands of what we wanted and we will continue to negotiate with Callahan and his agent to try and hammer out a long-term deal, but he is and will remain for now the captain and member of the team. This buys time for both sides, removes some of the acrimony, if any exists, and enables the team to push this issue to the backburner while focusing on the task at hand on the ice. I wouldn't mind lesser dollars for a longer term to keep Callahan in NY, though the five and $30 mil to start with seemed pretty fair and in line with what Joe Pavelski had gotten to stay in San Jose this past July while Alexander Steen, who is more of a scorer than Callahan with less of a track record, received three-years, $17.4 million to stay.